Three Days Until Goodbye Chapter 01
The moment I walked through the front door of the house, a loud crash echoed down the hall.
Sabrina Homer was standing in the middle of a pile of shattered porcelain. The second she saw me, tears welled up in her eyes.
She threw herself into Alexander Broughton’s arms, sobbing.
“I only dropped it by accident,” she whined. “But Madyson scowled so fiercely, she looked like a total witch.
“She’s scaring me.”
The broken pieces scattered across the hardwood used to be Alexander’s first gift to me—a ceramic doll he had sculpted and fired.
Alexander stroked Sabrina’s hair, his gaze incredibly tender. It was the exact same look he used to give me back when he still cared.
“Don’t be scared. It’s just a doll,” he murmured. “Here, I’ll break it with you.”
He bent down, picked up the doll’s severed head, and smashed it violently against the floor.
The ceramic fractured into fine shards and splinters, entirely beyond repair.
Sabrina perked up immediately, clapping her hands with a laugh.
Meanwhile, my fingers trembled around my purse strap.
I remembered the way Alexander used to cup my face, looking at me with absolute adoration.
“This is the first time I’ve ever made anything like this for a woman,” he had told me.
“If you ever break this doll, I’ll cut you off!”
Yet today, he’d smashed it himself.
Then again, it made twisted sense. He had already sacrificed our unborn child just to make Sabrina smile—why would a piece of clay matter?
A bitter smile crossed my face. I just grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the mess.
Suddenly, Sabrina coughed.
Alexander tensed up instantly. “Are you okay? Does your throat hurt from crying?”
He snapped his gaze to me, glaring. “Mady, she was crying because of you. Go make her a glass of her favorite mango juice.”
I froze, staring at him in total disbelief.
“Did you forget I’m allergic to mangoes?” I asked.
Alexander stiffened. A flash of guilt crossed his face, and he quickly looked away.
Instead of answering, he turned his attention right back to Sabrina, pulling her close and flirting with her.
I swept the broken ceramic into the dustpan and dumped it into the trash. In that moment, I let go of the last trace of affection I still had for him.
Right then, Sabrina spoke up, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“I should get going. Wait for me at the hotel tomorrow—the same one we stayed at last night.”
Alexander shot me a quick, nervous glance.
He looked visibly uncomfortable as he tried to cover his tracks.
“Brina and I have known each other for years. We were just catching up. Don’t read into it.”
I didn’t even bother calling out the lie.
I just pretended not to notice the obvious bite mark on his neck.
Sabrina smiled coyly and waved goodbye.
That was when I spotted the amulet pendant dangling from her wrist.
Three years ago, Alexander had fallen into a coma after shielding me in a bad car wreck.
Desperate for him to wake up, I got the pendant and knelt before a priest to have it blessed, then spent nearly a month praying every day.
When he finally came to, tears filled his eyes at the sight of my swollen knees, and he pulled me into a tight embrace.
“I’ll wear this amulet for the rest of my life,” he had promised. “We will never be apart!”
But now, he’d taken it off and given it to another woman.
I looked away from their affectionate goodbye and headed into the master bedroom to pack my bags.
Pushing the door open, I noticed the framed photo of Alexander and me was missing from the center of the wall.
A piece of Sabrina’s calligraphy hung in its place.
It perfectly matched the custom font Alexander used on his phone.
It hit me then—during all those years Sabrina spent overseas, Alexander had never actually stopped loving her.
But none of that mattered to me anymore.
I pulled out my phone and set a countdown. Three days until my flight.
Then a breaking news alert popped up.
“Broughton Heir Hits Reality Dating Show; Engagement to Homer Heiress Expected Soon.”
The attached video showed Alexander and Sabrina kissing passionately, looking completely wrapped up in each other.
No wonder he hadn’t bothered to check on me once while I spent the entire day in the hospital, recovering from my miscarriage.
I remembered when the paparazzi caught us on vacation together last year.
To protect his public image from any association with me, he’d blocked my number and iced me out for a solid month.
I never would have guessed a guy that private and hyper-cautious would go on a reality TV show.
But for Sabrina, his one true love, there were no limits.
The bedroom door opened, snapping me out of my thoughts.
Alexander walked in.
“You’re being a bit too dramatic, Mady,” he snapped.
“A mango allergy isn’t going to kill you. Brina just got back to the States—why did you have to upset her?”